Did we know this was brewing?

There have been leaks that this was coming for a while now.

Maybe they'll start to restrict sales of helium,

Isn't the helium supply running a bit low anyhow? I've read that if someone does actually make a cargo airship like I see drawings of every so often, that hydrogen is probably the lifting agent they'd have to use because of helium supplies.

Something interesting I learned in researching my current novel is that the buoyancy of helium is very close to that of hydrogen. I would've guessed that the greater atomic weight would make hydrogen a lot more effective as a lifting agent, but it's not the case.

The John Edwards thing has been in the news quite a bit, with the real question whether they were going to settle or indict. There's a good article explaining it here: [link]

eta: Congratulations, Gud! Where is the job, says the person who visits Overland Park every couple of years?

Isn't the helium supply running a bit low anyhow?

Yeah. There may be big shortages in 20-30 years, IIRC.

Also, did you read about the idea that we could harvest Helium-3 from the clouds of Uranus in order to get enough to fuel a starship? They would use hot-air balloons in Uranus's atmosphere, as there's too much helium in the upper atmosphere for a helium or hydrogen balloon to work.

Congratulations, Gud! Where is the job, says the person who visits Overland Park every couple of years?

It's in Lawrence. I really like Lawrence so the idea of moving is fairly appealing. For the moment I'll probably commute and start stocking up on cash.

We didn't have much debt before, but with most of my severance left plus the stock options I had to dump, we'll be able to pay off all of it plus have more savings that before I got laid off. That'll make saving money even easier. Our only debt will be the mortgage which is only 44,000 of principal. Of course, our cars are pretty old but they should still be good for another 2-3 years before thinking about replacing one.

This NPR story about an Indie Rock club and arts movie house that nurtured a creative boom in Omaha - and therefore a business and housing boom brought me back to our earlier conversation: at the end of the story they talked about how much money the two businesses had been instrumental in bringing into the community and then they said, "but don't worry, they're still broke." (Or words to that effect.)

That is the maddening thing - that the arts leads to a boom which bypasses the originators and then, often, forces them to leave that community.

NYT NEWS ALERT: John Edwards Is Indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in Campaign Funds Case, the A.P. Reports

I knew, but then he lives down the street from me, in a "green" fugly tower that is contributing to the rapid gentrification of my neighborhood and btw is bankrupt (the tower), and he apparently hangs at the hipster bar on the block. Fucking slimeball. I never liked him.

Yay Gud! Great news.

Yay, Gud!!! That is so exciting!

Congratulations, Gud!

This Wondermark is simply hilarious: [link]

The next one is quite excellent too. [link]

Sarah Palin's version of Paul Revere's ride:

He who warned, uh, the…the British that they weren’t gonna be takin’ away our arms, uh, by ringin’ those bells and um by makin’ sure that as he’s ridin’ his horse through town to send those warnin’ shots and bells that uh we were gonna be secure and we were gonna be free…and we were gonna be armed.

[link]